


Pyrokinetic and Psychokinetic

by FlashDriver



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Romance, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashDriver/pseuds/FlashDriver
Summary: Blaze and Silver, on different dates, are forced to confide in Amy about their newfound relationship. Contains 6, short, flashback stories documenting their relationship following its shift to being romantic.





	1. Psychokinetic

"So, how long have you two been dating now?" Blaze felt her ears spike, her fur prickled down her back as she looked from her teacup to the café's surroundings and then finally to the source of the question; Amy. The pink hedgehog was pouring herself a fresh cup of tea, eyes still locked on the amethyst cat she was tormenting; she'd lured the princess in with talks of exploration and whether customs differed between their worlds but now her true intent had been revealed. Amy had an air of confidence that Blaze had never understood, she'd first encountered it through the hedgehog's pursuit of Sonic but following her reunion with Silver she'd seen it utilised in an alternate manner; playing cupid. Blaze quickly scanned their vicinity, they were in a rather small café in station square; one Amy had insisted was her favourite, while it was busy fortunately no eyes were upon them. Yet at least.

Looking back to Amy Blaze was confronted with a raised brow and an over-eager smile. The cat was growing redder by the second; she felt her hands shake, cursing internally she reached for her teacup and answered; "S-Six months."

"And you're still so embarrassed? Come on Blaze, you're halfway to your one year anniversary! You should be loud and proud about it by now." Blaze, thirst suddenly evaporating, pulled away from her teacup, clenching her fists in her lap. With a small sigh, the hedgehog continued; "He's the sun to your moon, the land to your sea; the prince to your princess for Pete's sake! Yet you're scared to admit how long you've been together? Are things going that badly?"

"N-No! It's going great!" The Princess cringed feeling herself shout; she closed her eyes in an attempt to ignore their surroundings as well as Amy's piercing eyes. "We're just… we're just not that public. I like to keep thing private, b-between Silver and I. I-It's our relationship after all."

"Aww but that's no fun!" Blaze cracked an eye open, she could feel the potential stares of the other café-goers piercing her armour. Amy was tapping against the table restlessly, lips pursed into a small frown. "I wanna know all the details! I'm sure there's a bunch of romantic stuff he's done with that power of his, I tried to give him some pointers when you two started. He was so embarrassed, I had to start calling him Pink instead."

"Pointers?" Blaze immediately regretted asking, a devilish smirk grew on the young girl's face before a sweet smile took its place.

Amy closed her eyes, swaying her forefingers as if conducting an orchestra. "Just the obvious things, little things I'm sure even he would have figured out; like upside down kisses and pulling you a little closer when you're sat beside one another. Blowing kisses and sending a little psychic spark for you to catch, rearranging the clouds to spell out messages for you; you know that sort of thing! Sweeping you off your feet, literally! All very rom-an-tic!"

The singsong tone that hung in that last word only furthered Blaze's embarrassment; her tail was now stiff against her back. "He hasn't done any of those ones yet."

Amy frowned for a moment before a bolt of realisation seemed to strike her. "Oh, he hasn't done any of those ones... yet? Yet, as in, you think he will? But he has done something, hasn't he? I was certain he'd just follow my advice, take things obvious step by obvious step, but oh my; is he more of a romantic than I thought?"

Blaze could feel sweat on her brow, Amy was smashing at her defences; the hedgehog's green eyes were pleading to be let in. "W-Well, he's not… he has done a lot with it; whether he knows the actions to be romantic or not is another matter." Amy let out a sound somewhere between the whistle of a kettle and giggling, Blaze scoped the rest of the café; now they were getting a couple of strange looks. "If you can stop shouting I… I'll tell you some of the things that we've done."

A toothy grin spread over Amy's face, she raised a gloved forefinger to her lips and leant in close to whisper; "Well if you're sure you're okay with it…" She was attempting to be nice but deep down there was a sparkle in her eyes that suggested she'd pursue these stories to the ends of the earth. "Start small and build up, I want a narrative."

Blaze wasn't sure she'd get through one story, let alone build some elaborate palace of romantic storytelling. She brought her hands back up to the table, wringing her wrists, brows furrowed in thought. "I… I suppose that means the first story should be from early in our relationship. But what I value and what you do are probably very different…"

"I'll be happy with anything as long as you found it romantic, don't think so hard about it." Amy's expression had toned down significantly, holding back that bombastic joy perhaps in anticipation. Blaze managed to force down the remainder of her tea, the heat inconsequential when compared to the burning she felt in her face.

Setting the cup atop saucer she gave it another moment's thought. It wasn't that she struggled to think of moments, far from it, it was finding moments she was comfortable discussing… let alone with Amy, let alone in such a public place. Blaze decided on a simple one, embarrassing for her but not so impassioned that she would struggle to tell the story. "Well… around a month into our relationship, following a return from this world, I got quite sick…"

\---

I was bedridden with a fever, being from an alternate dimension my body was ill-prepared to handle the diseases of your world and so I had been confined to my room lest I spread the disease to the populous. I wasn't allowed visitors, Marine had been ordered to stay away on pain of losing her sailing privileges and even Gardon was keeping his distance; speaking through the door to signal a meal had arrived, asking how I was, before vanishing down the hallway. I'd slept from six in the evening till midday that day; my companions the books I struggled to read through the headache, the small flame I used as a reading light, long baths in the en-suite and the cold compress atop my head.

That changed when I heard a knock, not at my door but at my window. I slowly rose, dressed in my baggiest pyjamas and utilising my white duvet as a cloak, and waddled over to the window. I pulled back the curtains; recoiling at the sudden brightness. A voice came from the other side of the glass, "Oh geez Blaze, you're looking a little…" My eyes finally adjusted to the light and there he was, Silver was floating outside my window. There was a rucksack on his back and an wide smile on his face.

I cut him off before he could say anything he might regret, "Silver you shouldn't be here; you know I'm sick." A wave of embarrassment spread over me, I somehow hadn't considered this before; Silver had a far more direct route of reaching my bedroom… no one would have to know. I pulled my eyes away from his.

"But that's why I'm here; to help you get better." There was a genuine concern in his voice, audible even through the glass. "I brought you soup and some other little things, I'll look after you just like we used to each other."

"Silver; I'm not letting you pointlessly catch this flu. Go visit Marine, I'm sure she'll appreciate the company." I refused, going to close the curtains only for him to press against the window.

"But I'm from the dimension where you caught the disease so I should be immune right? I've probably already had it. Please Blaze I want to help you. We're together now, right? I should do more for you than I did for you before, not less." My hand loosened on the blinds, I knew it was a poor argument; he was from the future, the sickness could have evolved or mutated since it was the illness I had, but looking into those golden eyes I felt a weakness take hold. He'd gone to a lot of effort, Silver was still new to cooking back then and I was certain he'd never made soup before; I had no idea what else he could have packed. I fumbled with the latch before gently pushing open the two giant door like windows, without a moment of hesitation he flew in and embraced me; still floating so rather than simply wrap his arms around me his legs brushed my sides to. The covers around me shifted to accommodate him. "Thank you Blaze. I'll try my best not to get sick."

My head was still pounding, I felt myself burning up, but the embrace felt comfortable; I began to lean into his grasp. "I suppose I was beginning to feel a little isolated, thank you Silver." I was on the verge of purring when I felt the touch of a cool draft blow through the window, despite my fever, the weather chilled me to the core. He must have felt my shiver, landing and closing the window with a flick of his wrist; curtains left slightly ajar to maintain the light. The bag left his back with a hefty thunk, from the sound alone it was clear to me he'd far over prepared.

He began to rummage, "I think there's enough in here for four days… after that, I'd have to leave to-

"Silver," I sighed, waddling to the bed and sitting near its centre; replacing the compress atop my head and wrapping the duvet around me. "You can't stay trapped in here with me for three days, you're certain to get ill that way."

He shot up from his search, his honeypot eyes pushing into my own; "But Blaze-

I closed my eyes, averting the gaze, I was putting my foot down; "It is as much my job to keep you well as it is yours to help me while I'm sick, is it not? If you stay here and get sick I'm the one responsible." I tried not to look at him, knowing he'd continue to protest if I met his eye. I fought the silence for what felt like minutes, finally looking back to him only to find a small pout on his face; he'd resumed his search.

He sighed; "I guess…" I thought I'd ended it there but, truth be told, he would spend the next three days up there with me; I'd always drift off before I could chastise him into leaving. The collection of objects was vast, from giant flasks to sweets to library books to board games and all kinds of miscellaneous things. He said he'd packed enough for three days; it looked enough to last a month. "Are you hungry?"

I looked to the breakfast meal Gardon had left me, once warm oatmeal and honey I'd left to fully revert back to solid. "No, but I probably should eat."

He grabbed one of the flasks, popping the top and having a sniff. "Well, I've got chicken and leek, ham and pea and general vegetable. But if soup isn't-

"Silver whatever you've got there will be fine." I allowed myself to lie back, propping myself up against the backboard. He'd gone back to rummaging through the backpack, eyes wide with a twisted expression; worry clear in his face.

He scratched at his back quills, pulling away from the rucksack; "I… might have forgotten cutlery." He was back to rummaging, objects spreading from the floor to the air as he used his psychokinesis to aid in the search. Board games, toiletries, bowls, blankets and pillows flew through the air… but no cutlery. I looked to him, the bag now empty, his head was slumped and redness had overcome his muzzle. I turned to the spoon Gardon had supplied… sticking out of the oatmeal, sullied. "Y-Yep… I packed all this but forgot a spoon. I-It's not blended so it's not like you can just drink it… " He was clearly upset he'd made such a simple mistake, flask in hand and refusing to meet my eye.

That was until some sudden realisation overtook him, the redness dulled and a smile came over his face. Unscrewing the top he filled one of the tin bowls he'd brought and made his way over. As he sat down I immediately understood his plan, I turned away. "You can't be serious."

He blinked at that; "What? You know what I'm going to do?" He seemed surprised but it was far too obvious to me. He paused for a moment, "Well… you have to eat."

Embarrassment shuddered through me as aqua light entered my vision. I dared to look. My suspicions were confirmed; floating above his forefinger was a globule of steaming soup, tinted teal. I couldn't look him in the eye, my mouth slowly opened. I felt the heat enter my mouth, brushing past my teeth before gently lowering onto my tongue. It was maybe a little much but it did taste good, there was quite a lot of pepper to the soup with larger chunks of chicken and leek throughout. As I swallowed, a more gentle heat spread through my core; less pronounced and more comfortable than the heat my compress was combatting.

I finally looked to him; there was a dopey smile on his face, he was clearly unaware of the intimacy of the situation. I tried to act like I wasn't either; "Thank you Silver, it's very good."

That seemed to embarrass him far more than the act of feeding me, looking to the bowl and floating up another rough spoonful to hide his embarrassment behind. "Th-Thank you, do you want more?"

"W-We might as well finish what we've started." I opened my mouth again, acting a good patient I was quite careful not to bite down until the soup was released. I could gradually feel my strength return; with every bite I felt the ebbing pain of my headache eased. By the third mouthful, I was fully content eating from him, embarrassment had faded and comfort took its place; I could feel my smile growing and gentle purrs radiating between mouthfuls.

The meal finished, Silver floating the bowl somewhere it wouldn't be knocked over, I loosed a contented sigh, lowering myself to lie down properly. The purrs were still being loosed; I could feel a smile on my face matched by his. It was a realisation that pulled me from bliss, embarrassment burning far hotter in me than the fever or the soup. I gestured to the dry oatmeal. "Y-You could have just washed off this spoon instead, I could have fed myself."

His cheeks grew red, "Uh…I-I mean what we did was more fun though r-right?"

"M-More fun!?" I near shouted at him, using embarrassment to fuel confidence I began to tease. "Is my sickness a game now? Are we playing doctor?"

He flinched a little at that before responding, "You were making cute faces…" He wasn't meeting my gaze, "I…uh…I…Ugh…" He took his head in his hands, still sat at the foot of my bed. Though his hands I heard him mumble; "You make me not good with words. What I-I mean is I like it when you smile, i-it means I know I'm doing good and you smiled there in a way I don't know you would otherwise. I-It's not like I realised I could do that though, I-I didn't even know this place had a bathroom!" He was looking me in the eye again, embarrassment plain in his face. "I'm not used to us being like th-this yet, I don't really know what I'm doing but I know I should be making you smile."

I let that sit for a moment smiling to myself before gently kicking him from beneath the covers. "What else have you got to make me smile?"

\---

"Aww," Amy cooed, hands clasped over her heart and a Cheshire grin on her face. "Did he get sick too?"

"Of course he did." Blaze could feel herself glowing far more comfortably, a small smile on her face. "I looked after him as well as I could; having spent so long away from my duties I couldn't stay with him as he had me but every evening I would leave the castle grounds and spend the…" The realisation of how open she was being hit, Blaze felt herself lock up slightly. "S-Spend the night. I remember being quite angry with him for the first day b-but by the evening it was gone."

That Cheshire grin flashed devilish for a moment; "Did you share a bed? You mentioned he brought pillows but there was only one bed in there, right?"

"H-He used my desk chair the first night but…" Blaze's fiddled with her teacup, "And when he was sick we… we certainly shared, yes."

Amy let out a bizarre sound, a mix of whooping and giggling and quickly released some words Blaze had zero chance of understanding. Immediately Blaze could feel the eyes upon them, conversations around them stopped dead as the hedgehog's legs kicking started kicking as she pounded on the table. "You two are so cute! I never thought he'd have the nerve to do that, he might not have understood; a-and him floating to your window, has he done that again? It's so romantic! His power's perfect for a tryst, you could be locked away in your tower but he could still reach you!" The hedgehog caught herself, reclining in her chair.

"You said you'd keep quiet." Blaze hissed, her ears lowered and brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Amy loud whispered, pouring them both a new cup of tea. "I kept it in while you talked at least, if you keep going then I won't have time to talk."

Blaze sighed, she knew she couldn't just walk out with a full cup there; she added the milk but took no sugar (Amy took three lumps) and began to think. "I'll do more but you need to promise me you won't do that again."

"I promise, I promise." She took a long sip of her tea before continuing to talk in her hushed town; "If that's the one you started with though I hope it wasn't your best. Only a month in and he flew to your window? You were even sharing a bed all the way back then, but you're embarrassed to say you've been together for six months? You should have shut down completely at that, fainted even."

"That's because it all happened in private." Blaze admitted, "P-Public stuff is far more embarrassing. If it's just me and Silver then I feel a lot more comfortable, like I can do... m-more than normal."

Amy's grin widened again, Blaze braced, fangs bared, but the onslaught never came. Instead, Amy rose; "I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want anything?"

Looking to the hedgehog Blaze could tell she was struggling to keep her excitement internalised, a breather would probably do her some good. "No I am fine, thank you, Amy." It was a moment longer to decide the next event to share. There were of course events on the battlefield, sacrifices made for one another, but Amy clearly wanted things more typical to a relationship… the very things Blaze was terrified to talk about. Each story would have to be more romantic than the last, that'd be the only way to both keep Amy quiet and prevent her interruption. Blaze saw little choice. She would have to talk about their dates; a story immediately came to mind; a date Blaze herself had set up but he had completely co-opted with his powers.

Blaze almost jumped as Amy set her plate down, a square of millionaire's shortbread and a tiny fork. Sliding back into her seat the hedgehog had noticeably calmed down, cutting off a chunk of the shortbread for herself. "Have you picked the next?"

"I believe so…"

\---

We were four months into our relationship at this point. The dates I set up with Silver usually have a natural twist, while both our past lives were spent in urban desolation in this lifetime only his was; he'd never known the rustling of leaves nor the colours of flowers as I had come to so casually accept in this life. Upon remembering our past lives my ability to appreciate nature was reinvigorated, I now understood a world without these things, so introducing Silver to them was high on my list of priorities. It was a late Summer night, I'd had a long day of governmental work and I needed him to help me unwind. A walk on the beach, a relatively simple date but the ocean was still so new to him.

It was a moonless night with the stars ever so rarely peeking out from behind a dense cloud barrier. That meant he was the only light around for miles. The ebb and flow of the waves sounded in my ears, I felt his hand in mine; my pinkie slipped between his middle and ring finger and thumb atop his, but it was the sight I truly adored. Our vicinity was cloaked in a calming colour, everything was cast in a darkened teal; it guided our steps and made us more than mere silhouettes; shadows stretching to the edge of the glow. It was a comfortable light, soft enough to sleep in but bright enough to see through.

He broke the silence between us, "Blaze?"

In his light, with only the sea to watch us, I felt content. My wall was down; I didn't feel the need to use words, "Hmm?"

"Is this all good enough, should I be doing more?" I could feel his golden band rubbing against my wrist as he awkwardly shifted, "Just… is this what you had planned?"

I stopped, looking to him. "Yes, why? Is it okay for you?"

"Y-Yeah! It's just… I feel like I should be doing more. I've tried to research what I should do, reading lots of books and watching movies from your world and mine, and I know what I want to do… but when it comes to doing it. I-It's much harder than thinking about it." Silver explained.

"You're so naïve. You did research?" I teased, fairly certain I understood. "I'm in no rush, I just want to relax after a long day. This is all still new to both of us, let these things come naturally; don't force yourself." I went to keep walking but felt his hand drop from mine, my step caught and I went to look back to him only to feel his arm wrap around me; hand a little above my waist.

He was looking ahead, cast in blue it was hard to tell whether he was blushing but by the crumpled smile on his face and jitters radiating from his body I could tell he was clearly embarrassed. "I-I'll just take some small steps then."

I gently took hold of his far shoulder, stepping in to rest my head against him. "That sounds wise." He was shivering despite the relative warmth of our surroundings, "Just one step at a time." We set off again; it was a little awkward for the first couple of steps; trying not to step on each other's toes in such close proximity but we soon we were walking normally. My head against his shoulder I couldn't help loosing a gentle purr, a first for a public place… albeit I still had not among the public. The gentle rolling of the sea, our closeness and the psychic light that guided my vision mixed together to form a feeling of true bliss.

I was so enraptured that I didn't notice what he was doing. My foot met with something bizarre, we seemed to be glowing far brighter than we had been and yet the light was being cast upon us rather than radiating from us. Looking to the ground I was met with only teal, the sound of waves had grown far louder. I quickly realised what had happened, we were standing on solidified water; we were walking on the sea. The waves were veering off as they came toward us, our surroundings went from teal to being aquamarine; the ripples of the water being reflected in the light cast.

"Well… I-I thought about doing this a while ago. I had to figure out if it would work, I got soaked a couple of times. Marine helped, she tested it mostly." Our footsteps crackled, we got some way out to sea before aligning to trace the rim of the beach; to still make our way back albeit it would take longer to do so. My heels clicked against the psychic floor, small sparks flying with every step. I wondered how far away we'd be seen; perhaps some ship would notice the ethereal glow on the water.

I leant against him a little more, feeling the band of my ponytail catch the crook of his neck. "It is nice to use these powers outside of combat but if you feel tired don't be afraid to go back, it is very beautiful Silver."

"I can keep this up for a while, don't worry." His voice was calmer now, perhaps focusing on the water was keeping him from worrying and reducing his embarassment.

I felt myself draw close to yawning, so content in our meandering upon the sea, my eyes closed and mouth was about to open when a drop of rain struck me in the centre of the forehead. Before I realised what had hit me the sky opened, heavy rainfall battered against the stilled waves. I looked up to Silver but he had become rather still, quite rigid in this posture. A couple of seconds must have passed before I called out to him, "Silver are you going to put up a barrier? Can you not do it at sea?"

It took a moment for Silver to react, shuddering suddenly as if awakening from a dream, but with a wave of his hand the psychic glow from the waters around us was concentrated, a dome hardened around us; its edge was a little close but perhaps that was due to our position. I allowed small flames begin to spread eating away at the rain the clung within our fur, teal light being broken by wisps of red and orange. He'd keep me dry as I'd keep him warm. Our pace had remained at a standstill, I felt Silver shift as he watched the water shatter and bounce against his barrier; the rhythm of rainfall filled my ears. His voice cut through it; "You'd think I'd be used to this by now, it's still all so wonderful."

I lifted my head from his shoulder, looking to him; face tinted a mix of orange and teal as he looked out into the dark. "Wonderful is the right word." I pulled closer again, closing my eyes and letting the sound wash over me. "Let's just take our time."

\---

As Blaze's second story came to an end, feeling far less embarrassed having told a story that didn't involve being psychokinetically spoon fed, she took a sip of her tea. Glancing across to Amy she was met with a puzzled look, the hedgehog downed the sizable remainder of her shortbread in one bite before a rage entered her eyes; her brow deeply furrowed.

"That's it!? He didn't kiss you in the rain?" This time Amy caught herself, left fist clenched while the right gripped the table she pulled in close and began to loud whisper; "He said he did research but he didn't kiss you in the rain? What did he even watch?"

"K-Kissing in the rain?" Blaze was caught completely off guard, "We… I… I-Is that a thing people do?"

"Blaze you can't be serious… we have so many films to watch, we'll have to have a movie night." At that realisation a sparkle entered her eyes, "A double date! You can bring Silver, he can help me catch Sonic, and then we can all do some research as he called it. It'd be perfect!" Her whisper kept breaking into a shout.

"I still don't understand, kissing in the rain?" Blaze was frowning slightly, gripped by curiosity.

Amy leant back a little, "Well in lots of movies when a couple has been separated they'll run through the rain to reunite with a passionate kiss. It's a really common trope, but perhaps it just doesn't exist in your dimension… I'm sure he must have considered it though; you said he stalled when the rain started? Didn't put up a wall? How suspicious, how scandelous."

Blaze felt embarrassment flare, she lowered her teacup to the saucer and tried to look past Amy. "I doubt it, he was probably just caught off-guard. We hadn't even kissed back then…"

Amy had to scrape her jaw from the floor, "Four months in and you hadn't even…" But as her jaw realigned it quickly formed into a dastardly smirk, "But that means you had your first recently, doesn't it Blaze? In the past two months? You said you hadn't kissed back then, not that you haven't kissed yet."

Heart in her throat Blaze tried to speak, "T-T…Two weeks ago. We-

The hedgehog held up a forefinger to Blaze, the cat sealed her lips and braced for the oncoming storm. Amy was shaking, the fingers of her left hand cracking holes in the table. "It took you two five and a half months to have your first kiss?"

"W-Well neither of us had kissed anyone before… I-I was scared I'd make some mistake. I-It wasn't like I could practice." Blaze was quaking, her teeth ground; it was taking most of her focus not to catch alight.

The chunk of table Amy had been gripping snapped clean off, quickly realising what she'd done the hedgehog tried to hide the mass beneath herself; she took a sip of her tea to overcome the brief embarrassment… giving Blaze time to hang in anticipation. Finally, Amy spoke; the excited look had somewhat relaxed to a wily smirk, the spark was still plain in her eyes. "Well, you should have asked him to practice before you got together. That way you'd know if he was any good at it and get some practice in."

"W-We took half a year to kiss for the first time Amy, I hardly think asking before we were even together was a possibility…" Blaze massaged her brow, trying not to. "B-Besides…" Blaze immediately bit her tongue.

"Besides what?" The devilish smile had returned, "Did it go better than you thought? Oh! Who led? You might as well tell me the story at this point, I'll just keep asking for details you know." Amy weighed the teapot; evidently deciding it was too light and opting to pour for Blaze. "I don't even mind if his power comes into it… but is it upside down?" Amy cut herself off, "No no, you said he didn't take my advice. Just tell me the story; no more spoilers."

Blaze watched, burning yet frozen in place, unable to resist as Amy poured her the last cup of tea. The seating around them had cleared out completely; Blaze hadn't seen any of the staff leave the desk since Amy's first outburst. In this deep, could things get any worse? Regardless of whether it could Blaze could see no way out, Amy had a knack for pursuit; Blaze would only be delaying the inevitable, she'd be cornered at some social gathering or following the next prevented disaster and hounded. Blaze pointed to Amy, "No more after this, no more prying into our relationship after this,"

Amy pressed her hand atop her heart; "I, Amelia Rose, promise not to ask Blaze the Cat for stories regaling her relationship with Silver the Hedgehog for one year to this day."

Blaze thoroughly understood that wording; it shielded her from the hedgehog's prying but not Silver. She gave that a moment's thought but, in truth, she felt she had suffered enough while he had avoided this outing entirely. "I suppose that will do."

Amy leant in, feet kicking beneath the table.

\---

The first leaves of autumn were beginning to fall, a chill swept through the southern island. As I previously mentioned I liked our dates to have a natural tinge, not just for him but as I have grown so used to more high society life I enjoy getting away from urban centres and into the countryside; an afternoon picnic among the leaves seemed a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, the trees on southern island, being palm trees, don't shed their leaves, at least not in the sought after red and brown autumn colours. There's a forest island further west, deciduous trees making up its majority, that would be spectacular at this time of year. The only problem was getting there. Marine would have offered her services but she always came with some… baggage, the racoon had sat in on a couple of our dates and her running commentary had proved rather distracting. This left the alternate, flying with Silver himself.

We were to meet at the pier, I'd arrived early naturally, it was around noon on Saturday, the tide was in and a layer of cloud hung overhead; the sun occasionally breaking through to brighten the oncoming cold season and reveal the orange sunset sky. Despite the hour and imperfect conditions, the beach was fairly active, perhaps the last big beach day before the end of the year. There was a gentle wind but knowing I would be flying with him fear held no domain over me. Lost in my thoughts, immersed in the scenery, I almost jumped in surprise as two cyan runes closed over my eyes. My tail twisted wildly behind me at the initial shock, I could hear him laughing; I'd let my guard down and he was taking full advantage. I felt the heat rise; placing my hands on his wrists I blindly called out, "Silver please, people are watching."

His hands released as he flitted over my head; now was smiling at me upside-down. Mere centimetres away but by the big goofy smile on his face the intimacy wasn't fazing him, that or as was more likely he didn't even notice. "You left yourself wide open, it's nice to see you relaxed. Good afternoon Blaze."

"Good afternoon Silver," I returned his smile but from the beach I could feel eyes upon us, I was certain I heard muttering just outside earshot. "I trust you're prepared?"

"I think so." He pulled a bag off his shoulders, weighty but not nearly as weighty as the one he'd brought when I was sick. "I managed to get some good fish, there were a lot of people selling these weird vegetables I'd never seen before… whatever a squash is, whatever a marrow is, so I gave them my best shot; are those autumn things?"

"Ahh, the farmer's market; yes. There should be a harvest festival soon to celebrate." Festivals were good in that, while they were work, it was work Silver could not only help with but being with him made the event far more enjoyable.

"Alright… um…" Silver paused for a moment, still floating before me. "Do you want me to pick you up or do you want to just hold hands or? We could really take any position."

I looked at the beach, a couple of people were looking in our direction but nothing significant. I fought through the embarrassment, reaching up and catching my hands behind his neck; pushing myself into his arms. "I-I'm fine like this, l-lets go above the clouds though." With him floating my head was around chest height; tufts of his fur pushing into mine.

His arms wrapped around my back, pulling me in a little closer. "A-Alright." The white before me was quickly cast blue, my feet left the pier and the early autumn wind was replaced by the wind of flight blowing against our fur. Pink clung to his face as it surely did to mine; I knew it not to be wind chill. He vanished from my vision for a moment as we broke through the clouds, almost on instinct I dropped my head into his chest; refusing to let go. I did yelp when we broke free of the cloud layer, not due to some sudden change in light so much as a shift in Silver's position. Without hesitation he'd gone from floating standing straight to floating on his back, if I wasn't already deep in his fur I would have been thrown there; pulling my head up I looked up at him; brows furrowed.

"What are you doing?" The smile was back on his face, arms gently held around me as a psychic glow ebbed from him; no longer coating me rather forming a small bubble around us. "We're going a little slow aren't we?"

"I figured this would be more comfortable right? This way you're freer to move, rather than things being stiff." There was nothing but honestly to his voice, "I mean, we could stand instead if you want to? Or I could put a layer over you if you're feeling tense?"

We were truly alone up here, as private as a bedroom, clouds obscuring the sea or what land lay beneath us. I felt a small burst of confidence, pulling myself up to loom above him. "Freer to move? And just where would I move up here Silver? Your body is the only place I can go." I flushed at my own wording.

The pinkness returned to his face, quills bristling with psychic energy, he was looking away. "I-I guess I didn't think that far through? I just didn't want to feel like I was restraining you. Th-That and it is pretty up here right? I don't think I've ever taken you this high."

My eyes wandered to the sky around us, I pushed myself up; hands now in his chest fur. The sky was clearer up here, as one would expect; sun hanging low in the orange turned sky, yet it was the sight of the clouds that truly caught my attention. If above us was a sky I knew then beneath us was a landscape like no other, populated by wisps of pink, orange and red. It was a naturally peaceful, relaxing sight; naturally shaped yet like nothing in nature I had ever experienced. Great fluffy masses passed one another, some colliding and fusing and mingling to make shapes of all descriptions; great orange rabbits tinted red, stars spreading and spiralling toward their inevitable separation.

Mountains, hills and valleys were formed of cloud; it was an ever-changing and completely alien landscape. I leaned close to him and reached down to the thick layer below, right hand trailing just outside his bubble and brushing through the water vapour. I couldn't help wondering whether anyone else had experienced this; people could fly within planes sure but to float so peacefully across the sky. There was nothing to see or hear us, lying body to body as we drifted across this wondrous landscape.

I clambered up his body, the shield protecting me from the wind; my tail coiled around him. Confidence was welling within me, bolstered by the privacy and intimacy of our situation. My hands reached his shoulders before embarrassment set in, I felt my face begin to burn. "Are you sure you didn't think this far ahead? Usually, when you're trying to be romantic, you plan ahead; it would be especially naïve of you to break that constancy."

His ears spiked up to their highest, his eyes flickered around beneath my gaze. "I-I mean… I-I can be pretty naïve right? I-It's not unthinkable. I-It's not like I know this any better than you, y-you planned today; not me."

"I suppose… this will come as a s-surprise then?" I'd said that but while I wasn't certain what I was doing I knew what I wanted to do. My head began to lower, eyes still wide; locking then unlocking then locking with his. He leant up a little; despite the heat I felt he was clearly the more nervous of us. I would have to lead, I sunk from my hands on his shoulders to my elbows; hands gripped near the base of his two giant quills. My eyes closed, even this close I had no idea what to do with my lips. I felt his nose push against mine, we were close; so close, I pulled back and turned my head; an eye opened for only a moment to better angle myself. He was very red, his eyes sealed shut; shudders coursed through his body. My eyes closed again, angle corrected I held my breath and leaned in.

Lips finally contacted, it took a moment to understand the feeling. I was far too tense to understand what I was doing, Chest to chest, a mess of limbs floating above the clouds; face-to-face. It was warm, wet and spread a comfort throughout my person that quickly overcame my embarrassment. It could have lasted a second, it could have lasted an hour; time wasn't of particular concern in the moment. His body turned from rigid to putty beneath me, head turned to deepen the kiss; arms enveloped around me as though they were always meant to be there, his heartbeat slowed in time with mine.

Being atop him I was the one to pull away, still inches from his face; his head in my hands, he'd tried to follow when I raised my head away but realising the kiss had finished full-blown embarrassment quickly returned; his arms went stiff, face exploded red and his golden eyes were clearly unfocused; "I-I… uhh…" He seemed to be laughing, clearly sweating quite a lot. "Th-That was… f-fun? N-No! W-Well it was but… I-I mean… i-it was g-good, I-I mean…" He seemed to regain some semblance of control, "…Th-Thank you?" But perhaps not as much control as he'd hoped.

I smiled down to him, "Y-You're welcome Silver, thank you for being a part of it."

He still wasn't in a particularly tactful state of mind, eyes focusing on me again he blurted out; "C-C-C…Can we do that again?"

\---

Amy was leaning in, head resting on her fists; "So…" There was a singsong tone to her voice, "Go on, did ya?"

Blaze finished sipping her tea, "I promised to tell you the story of our first kiss, nothing more."

Amy's smile broadened, not as wild as it had once been but that air of razzing still shone through. She pointed to the cat, crushing a giggle to the best of her ability. "That's a yes."

Blaze's cup clattered against the plate, lowering quite a lot faster than she'd anticipated. "It was the end of the story, there will be no more as per our agreement."

Amy reclined, looking at the ceiling and released a contented sigh. "Well, it was worth it. I can't wait to tell you stories like this about Sonic, you two have certainly set a high bar. It's lucky I'm such a romantic; otherwise, we'd never stand a chance. I'm feeling competitive." Looking back down to Blaze, "I'll have him within the year, otherwise you can't tell me any more stories."

"S-Sure Amy." Blaze wasn't nearly as interested in competitive romance as the hedgehog but if it meant she could avoid this embarrassment again then she would fully embrace it. "I wish you the best of luck."

"I won't need it, now I'm more motivated than ever! Soon you'll see, this'll be a yearly event! Just think about it, as the others fall in love we can invite them; lead by example. It'll be perfect!" That was a little scarier but, Blaze supposed, it could be some time until Amy finally caught Sonic; by that time perhaps she'd finally feel confident in talking about her and Silver's relationship. It was moving slowly but surely moving.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Blaze tried to gently ease her down, "Perhaps eventually, but I won't rush my relationship for stories."

Amy's mischievous smile would return; "Of course not, one step at a time right? But I want to know about each and every step you take with Silver."


	2. Pyrokinetic

"You know you can't hide behind that menu forever Silver. We've got so much catching up to do…" Silver knew he was trapped but that didn't stop him sinking deeper and deeper into his chair, menu obscuring his eyes and a good third of his quills. Sat opposite him Amy loosed a sigh, beginning to whine. "Come on, just one little story? I've heard so little since I made that deal with Blaze… I thought you'd at least tell me how things are going; you still owe me for all that advice, remember? All those tips on how to be more romantic?" She sang out that last word, saying it so boldly and clearly, Silver could feel himself growing redder by the second; he'd been in a relationship with Blaze for almost a year now, he'd grown so much more confident in his actions, yet facing Amy seemed to sap his composure. Was her shear assertiveness still so far beyond his? Evidently.

Silver took a deep breath, bringing the menu down to rest on the table; he'd made his decision minutes ago. "I think I'll just have the soup of the day."

Amy pulled back, rising from their booth, a smirk wide on her face. "If you're going to stall you could have at least done it well, the soup of the day's on a board by the counter; not on the menu. You start thinking of a story; I'll try not to take too long." She'd leave him with that Cheshire grin, he took his head in his hands. How Blaze had put up with this he had no idea, at least when they'd discussed tips it'd been in private!

He sat himself back upright, clenching his fists. He'd make his stand here, in this café; if Blaze had endured Amy's pestering then he could to! Sure she was stronger than him in a lot of ways, but when it came to being open he was better… right? Blaze was the sort to bottle her feelings while he, often naively as she put, tried his best to express them. He'd tried to take first steps in their relationship before Blaze; he'd been leading… even if he hadn't succeeded in really taking them. He shook his head, he had to do this; it was another step, with this his confidence would swell! When Blaze came back from her meeting with Amy her confidence had bloomed, if he could be open about his relationship then surely he'd be able to do more too! He'd never hesitate again, express his love to the fullest, he'd-

"Oh, where did Silver go? When did you get here Pink?" Amy had slid back into her seat, chortling to herself. "You're giving Knuckles a run for his money, but don't you worry; Blaze got pretty embarrassed too. Just a couple of stories will-

Silver's palms slapped down on the table, eyes locked to Amy's. He was very aware of the heat that masked his face, he could feel sweat on his brow; but he had to push hard, he had to grow confidence. "What did Blaze tell you? I-I can't just tell the same stories! What do you want to know? I'm prepared, I can do this!"

For a moment Amy seemed taken aback but not a second later there was a spark in her eyes, smile stretching even wider across her face; "Well the stories were about how romantic your powers could be and I'll admit that, while you didn't take my pointers, I was surprised by how well you did." That did admittedly relax Silver somewhat, he hadn't followed Amy's advice as her recommendations had seemed too forward and hearing them from Amy had further charged them with embarrassment. Perhaps one day he'd get that upside-down kiss though… he refocused on Amy, he had stories to tell. The pink hedgehog continued, "First she told me how you cared for her; sneaking through the window, how scandalous, and I heard you shared a bed? Multiple nights, consecutively?"

Amy had leaned in much too close wide smile reduced to a smirk, a spark in her eyes. Confusion overcame his embarrassment for a moment, he raised a brow; "Well it's not like we hadn't before that, it's not that big of a deal. Back in-

Now it was Amy's turn to smack the table, she stood; jaw dropped and eyes wide, releasing a sound only describable as a squeal. "You two were sleeping together before you were together!?" Her hands raised, she began to gesticulate wildly; "How are you two so shy? It makes no sense! You should be the most open and proud couple in the world, yet you couldn't even kiss her in the rain that night! It took you five months for a first kiss, really Silver? You set it up really well by the way, but five whole months?!"

That stung quite a lot, the confusion he'd felt vanished and a drive returned in its place; he rose, hands slamming the table once more, "I-It's not like I-I didn't want to kiss her! I-It's just…" He closed his eyes and balled his fists; "I love her so much and whenever I want to do something new i-it's like she stuns me, she's too pretty so I hesitate; I'm scared in case I mess up! After the first time it's been way easier! It's been three months since that kiss a-and I-I've been getting much better at doing it, ever since that first one, but I still can't help feeling so warm! My heart starts thumping; i-it's like the rest of the world vanishes when I go to kiss her. Sh-She's all that matters, in those moments and always! The closer I get the more I feel the-

Silver's spiel would be interrupted by the sound of clinking beneath him, looking to its origin he would sight a very embarrassed looking waitress; setting their tray down before immediately making herself scarce, almost running from the two hedgehogs. He looked to their surroundings; Amy had chosen a small café in the heart of Station Square for their catch up and he'd thought it relatively empty… until now. No fewer than ten sets of eyes were looking up at him, stares that ranged from anger at having a meal interrupted to those of mutual embarrassment. Silver threw himself back down to his seat, head in his hands; releasing a sound somewhere between a groan, a laugh and a sigh. He could feel the red heat radiating from his cheeks.

"Hey, buzz off! This is a private conversation, let him gush all he wants!" He heard Amy sit back down in her seat, felt a forceful hand pat the back of his quills. "You were doing so well too, Blaze was terrified of others hearing what she said; you really are the more confident one. Proclaiming your love like that is important! Let everyone hear it!"

His head crashed from his hands down against the table, not due to the pink hedgehog's (admittedly excessive) force but due to his still mustering embarrassment. "A-Amy please, g-give me a moment, I really didn't mean to s-shout like that."

The patting stopped, he heard Amy release a snort; "Well you can't take it back now; it seems you're a romantic deep down Pink, it's a good way to be! We're a couple of rose-tinted dreamers, in love with two fools too embarrassed to speak their hearts in public. I'm sure with time you'll match my confidence! Just you see."

"Uh… sure…" Silver highly doubted that but he'd long learned there was no point in arguing with the girl, besides; it was a nice thought. He raised himself, floating his soup over while Amy placed a very elaborate strawberry sundae before herself… confusion drew Silver from his embarrassment; "I thought we were having lunch?"

She'd already placed the spoon in her mouth, she made a positive hum; "Oh yes, I wanted something of equal sweetness to the stories, thank you for reminding me. Have you picked one yet?"

Crap, his mind hand gone blank! He scratched his chest fur, "Well… Blaze told you ones about my powers, so should I tell you some about hers? They can be r-romantic like mine."

Amy's eyes widened, her mouth hung slightly open; "I didn't really consider her powers, yours were so easy to scheme around, but… yes! That'd be perfect!" Her mouth reformed into a broad grin; "I'm already thinking of things she could do… but I don't want to spoil this! Go on, go on!"

"Uh… um…. G-Give me a moment, I'll pick a good one; I promise." He was pulling at his chest fur, free of tugs thanks to Blaze's intervention, mind mired as he trawled through the possibilities. One story did come to mind, forced to the forefront by Amy's prior mentioning of their first kiss. "I could tell you about the date that followed the first kiss?"

Amy leant in, scooping another spoonful of ice cream and smiling more softly, "Tell me whatever story you feel like Silver, as long as you found it romantic it'll do for me."

He stopped tugging his chest fur, setting his hands on the table. As he began to focus on telling a story he only grew redder. "Alright, I think you'll like this one…"

\---

Blaze had picked out one of the larger untouched islands in her kingdom for that date; covered in these giant deciduous trees. She'd told me the island was special but to be honest, experiencing the sight of Autumn first hand for the first time, I was sure even the most basic of parks would have overfilled me with joy. We descended through the clouds; her still laying atop me though her hands had shifted back to my chest. She pointed out our destination, I twisted my head to look over my shoulder; our flight almost stopped entirely as my eyes turned to saucers. Despite floating far above it and a good hundred metres away I could still tell this island was special, from our position I couldn't see the ground as it was completely obscured by the multitude of coloured leaves.

Even in the lowlight of the cloudy afternoon the vivid colourations weren't lost on me, the outer rim of trees was brown but the deeper inland my eye was drawn the more vibrant the colouration became. Following brown was a pale yellow that eased a little brighter before transitioning into a light orange that slowly but surely became darker; finally came the crimson centrepiece of the island, a section smaller than the others yet by no means tiny. It was as though the island radiated autumn spirit, I finally looked back to Blaze; her eyes were on me, I could feel myself grinning. "Well?" She asked.

I turned back to it, continuing our decent. "Why is everything so pretty here? I'm never going to get used to this, it's all so amazing."

"I doubt you will, I'm glad you can experience this world now Silver." I could feel warmth flood from her voice, "I've seen it before but not with my memories intact and certainly not from this angle, it is a breath-taking sight. If only we'd come in daylight."

I shook my head, still smiling down at the sight. "Nah, this is great; big moons are a fall thing to right? Maybe the sky will clear. Where're we going to land?"

"Just aim toward the red, there's a further sight to behold." I looked up to her but she spoke no further, curiosity quickly overcame me; what kind of secret could this autumn wonderland hold?

"Alright, we're going to shift for landing." Her grasp shifted, arms wrapping behind my neck and beneath my quills… my mind flashed to our repeated lip lock, what could have only been minutes ago when I emerged from the daydream she was staring down at me quizzically… or was it knowingly? "R-Right, yes lets… okay." I eased us to a standing position, keeping my arms wrapped around Blaze's waist, and accelerated our descent. Soon I could hear the cacophony of branches, rustling in the strong sea wind; leaves broke from their bonds and spiralled passed us as we approached, welcoming us to their home. As we passed over the treetops birds shot out from underneath, singing their songs of surprise, I was only pulled from the amazing colour for a moment to weave us between their darting.

We passed over brown, yellow and Orange but when we came to red I realised what the further surprise was. The other layers of this autumn forest had been constructed of many trees while the red section was formed of a single giant tree; it's trunk reaching out above all others and having the thickness of at least twelve of its friends. It wasn't as though the island's regular trees had been thin either, they'd been some of the thickest and strongest I'd ever seen! The leaves were like giant hands; four to six long leaves that extended in clusters from the ends of branches.

I turned to approach side on, granting Blaze the ease to see without twisting her neck; "It's… It's huge…"

"The largest on all the known islands, no one knows how old it is, where it came from or even who planted it, but it is heralded as the heart of seasons. Only when the last leaf turns red has autumn reached its height, only when the leaves have been shed does winter begin. With the first bud bloom comes Spring, with the last wilted flower the midpoint of Summer." I could listen to her for hours; she'd planned this through so thoroughly. I'd read a lot about the history of her world but I'd never come across this! I rounded the giant trunk as we made our way toward the ground, it's bark a dark brown nearing black with weathered and aged marks across its entirety, just taking in the forest's atmosphere. The ground was as amazing as the treetops had been, here rather than conformity and separation between the autumn colours the leaves mingled and mixed on the ground to make great blotches and spiralling patterns.

I lowered Blaze to the ground first, our grip extended from holding each other close to hand in hand as I set her down to the crackling of leaves beneath her heels. I brought myself down before her, immediately kicking up some leaves; there had to be a good inch of them…. I looked to the ground, then back to Blaze, then back to the ground and then back to Blaze. "Is it okay if-

She smiled, rolling her eyes. "Go on, have fun."

I shot back up into the air before plunging back toward the ground; feet first, a rapturous crunch sounded as, upon contact, leaves flew up around me. Taking them in my ranged grasp, psychokinesis acting as the wind, I dragged the mix of golden colours and felt joy overflow as that rustling sound consumed my ears. As I toyed leaves would slip my grasp, raining back down toward us. Eventually, probably after a little too long, I stopped, looking back to her and feeling more than a little embarrassed. "I-It's really good here, thank you for bringing me."

"I'm glad you like it. The seasons are like flowers, beauty but for only a moment; enjoy autumn while it last." To be honest, I hadn't even considered that, I was just really enjoying playing around with some leaves? But she was right, this was the kind of thing that I couldn't experience all the time; she really had thought this out. She looked to the ground for a moment, staring at our elongated shadows; "It's going to be dark soon, I should probably start a fire."

I nodded, "The food would probably be better warm too. I'll set things up." I tried not to lose myself in the crunching of leaves as, selecting a place a stone's throw from the giant tree yet still some way from the dark orange treeline, I used my psychokinesis to clear a circle. Following this, finding some rocks and shed branches, I used my powers to construct a small bonfire; we'd set up fires of this sort when hiking many times. Blaze approached, taking a seat before the wood, and with a flick of her wrist the pyre was set alight; shedding a warm orange-red glow, kept small to leave the low hanging branches untouched. Approaching I started to rummage through the bag, drawing out the marrow wrapped in tinfoil, stuffed with pepper and rice, as well as fish and tomato atop a crusty bread. There was also a picnic blanket but I hadn't expected it to be so dark, with the fire we couldn't exactly set it on the ground. I hesitated for a moment, looking to her with blanket in hand. Without hesitation she took it from me and so dexterously threw it over our shoulders; pulling it closed around us thus swaddling us together. I leant against her a little, "F-First the kissing and now that, you're really good at reading my mind."

She gently hummed; I could feel warmth gently ebbing from both her and the fire before us. With a small gesture I set the foodstuffs to hover over the flames, just out the reach of their licking. Our shadows were slowly fading into the darkness, the blanket blocked the glow from my symbols and so the world was being cast orange. I felt her head move to top my shoulder, ponytail pushing into my quills. "I'm still not really comfortable using these flames outside of a crisis but when it's just us…while I wanted to show you this island there is something else I wanted to do tonight." She seemed to hesitate for a moment; due to her positioning I couldn't turn to her so I gently wrapped an arm around her. "You use your power so freely in public, and one day I might too, but for now I just want to share something to you."

I felt her shift slightly beneath the blanket, I looked into the crackling fire; unsure what she was about to do but thoroughly gripped by anticipation. She took a deep breath and suddenly the flames began to twist and shape, turning a brighter yellow, almost bursting for a moment, and from it wisps of flame too large to call embers broke free. The sun had finally fully set; clouds above blocked whatever potential moonlight would have filtered through the treeline. Embers surrounded us like docile fireflies, snuffing the instant they made contact with their environment. When I finally looked back to the fire, however, I saw what she intended to show me.

The bonfire had grown wider, I could tell the flames weren't moving naturally but it took a moment of blinking to recognise the shapes within it. There was an indent to the fire, almost like a cave, and within it the shape of a heart hung; glowing crimson against the surrounding soft yellow. The edges of the heart crackled, rippling out to stroke the edges of its hovel and slowly the colouration melded before completely swapping; outside crimson with a glowing yellow heart within. One of the wisps passed across my vision and I noticed it had changed, rather than being simple flames the yellow light had taken a form; that of a roughly rectangular shape, the pointed edges cut, it was a depiction of a sol emerald. I could feel her shaking slightly and tightened my grip, shaping flames was far harder than shaping psychokinetic energy; they never wanted to stay still and would constantly try to break their assigned form.

I cast my gaze across our surroundings, there were seven of them gently gliding through the air; rotating around the blaze. Suddenly the bonfire began to split, pieces of the crimson shell breaking away to leave only the golden heart. The flaming shards didn't just vanish however, rather they slowly ebbed from the burning pyre and took form; a circle with a line descending from its base. Immediately recognisable, it was the symbol on my palms. Seven of them, one by one, left the central flame; each headed for an individual Sol emerald, a depiction of Blaze.

Our representations collided in the air, the colours mixed and melded, and in the wake of the flames orange hearts pulsed and grew. Seven swelling orange hearts were orbiting a golden one; I felt her arm around my shoulder. I'd kept quiet but cloaked in her warmth, and basking in her light I couldn't help speaking. "It's wonderful Blaze, th-thank you."

The orange hearts began their approach on the golden one. I slowly floated the food down from above the fire, thoroughly reheated by her display. She didn't pluck anything from the sky, however, instead, I heard her speak "I'm sorry it took so long to do something like this. I'm still so apprehensive about using my powers in this way and it takes me a lot longer to plan than you."

The hearts reconvened, there was a burst of light, and then the fire was back to its original state; her body relaxed into mine. I leant my head against hers, quills rubbing her ears. "That was really hard and you picked such a great place, there's nothing to be sorry for. We're taking things one step at a time, right?"

"Yes, we are, but I've given it some thought." I felt her head pull away from mine; I turned to her and our eyes locked. "With today I'm going to take more steps, by telling you I'll be forced to hold myself to it." There was seriousness in her eyes; I felt her arms shift around me beneath the blanket. "I'm going to take initiative more often, I hope that's okay?"

My eyes widened; "Y-Yeah, sure! I think that-

And then, before I could finish and without a moment's hesitation, she leaned in and kissed me; the firelight growing brighter than it ever had before.

\---

Steam could be seen on Silver's breath, there wasn't a patch of visible skin that wasn't boiling magenta. Despite this, however, there was a broad smile on the hedgehog's face, seemingly happy with the story he told. "And, well, that's it."

Amy circled her hand; gesturing for him to continue, sparkle in her eyes. "Go on! Go on! Go on! Come on Silver you can't stop there!"

"W-What? But that's where it finished… I mean, we ate after that but I thought the kiss was the romantic bit." Silver's brows had furrowed, eyes dropped to the rapidly cooling soup beneath him. "She'd kissed me, f-for … I-I… the fourth time that day?"

"And how was that kiss in the firelight? Details Silver! Details!" Amy seemed to be growing impatient, fingers rapping on the table as she leant closer and closer forward.

"Uhh… umm…" Silver, no longer telling this is part of a continuous story and suddenly painfully aware of his setting, stalled. When things were flowing fine, when the pieces were being set at his pace and in his mind, he'd been speaking without embarrassment… but now? How would he put it into words? He had enjoyed the kiss no doubt, it'd filled him with comfort and spread a warmth throughout his person; a warmth he was finding it impossible to verbally recreate. He hadn't counted them, he'd been far too distracted, but he'd enjoyed it down to the last millisecond; the mere thought of it made his heart beat faster and his legs start shaking. But how could he articulate that? Now he was thinking much too hard about it, this was the same sort of hesitation that kept him from acting with Blaze. "Umm… i-it was hot? L-Like the temperature! B-But I guess the other way t-too… eugh."

Amy huffed, lowering herself back into her chair; arms crossed and looking away with her eyes shut. "Honestly Silver; way to flub the climax! Don't pick a story if you can't finish it properly! The ending's supposed to be the best part, as lovely as what she did was; the kiss at the end of the story is supposed to be the most romantic part, you've really got to expand on it! Tell me how you felt, the thoughts running through your head and how your bodies intertwined!" Her tone was whiny; she'd dropped her elbows on the table, head in her hands, and was staring at him in an excessively judgemental way… it wasn't quite as harsh as the sort Blaze would give when he did something truly foolish but it still made him feel guilty. Amy continued; "Just tell me a story you can finish this time, alright? I want two more stories to make up for this disappointment."

Silver groaned, throwing his vision to the roof. "Two more? Why is me messing up worth twice what I ruined?"

"It's worth double because now I'll never get to experience that story in full, you built up something so great only to destroy it at the last moment. You're telling me two more because you got my hopes up! Besides, you know Blaze told me three; so don't you want to match her?" There was a teasing tone in her voice, even Silver could see he was being manipulated, but…

Knowing he didn't stand a chance arguing against Amy he lowered his vision back to her, there was a mischievous leer on her face… clearly she'd known she'd won from the start. "Alright, that's fine, j-just give me a moment to think of another."

The smile shrank to a grin as Amy took another spoonful of ice cream, Silver was much too focused to even touch his certainly lukewarm soup. Moments came to mind, one in particular he knew Amy would want to know about but he feared he'd mess that up like the last. He wanted to tell it… but he'd have to psyche himself up first. If he told it then it would be the last story he told her. His thoughts were interrupted when Amy sighed; "Come on Silver, I can't wait forever; my ice cream will melt… speaking of melting though you mentioned her warming you up a couple of times. I take it that happens often? That's pretty smooth, I'm surprised I didn't think it up; does she do that often?"

"Oh yeah, that's probably the thing she does most! She's really good at it, " At the mention of Blaze's shared body heat Silver's mind latched onto a thought and, without even really intending to, he began to tell a story.

\---

Blaze doesn't feel temperature like most people; she can wander through tundra without the slightest of shivers and stride across deserts without breaking a sweat. As fluffy as I am I don't share the former trait with her, having grown up in a burning city I can handle the heat pretty well but a mild breeze will prickle my spines and leave me shaking. I'd only noticed it in the last couple of months, maybe something changed, but Blaze's bedroom is always freezing. We don't spend too much time up there, unusually it's just when I stay over after a spar or, as it happened a couple weeks ago when we start falling asleep in the library.

She had lead me up to her room and was carrying with her a thick tome of ancient prose about a prior king while I carried a newer book on the Coral Caves; an island I'd only been to a couple of times but really enjoyed. Blaze had insisted that I was far too tired to journey back to the beach and much too late for that regardless, as the door opened however chill swept out and plucked my drowsiness from me. Immediately a shiver ran down my spine. Opening a palm I sent a pulse of green-blue light into the room, gentler than turning on a proper light.

She turned to me, completely unfazed by the cold, "I'll change in the bathroom, make yourself comfortable." Right, changing, she had to do that. Embarrassment attempted to heat me up, engaging the chill in battle, but the only way I'd be warming up tonight was clear. I entered the room and immediately noticed one of her big double-door windows had been left open. Wandering over to close it my eyes caught the sky and of course I froze, like most Autumn skies it wasn't without clouds but every so often an almost full moon would emerge from behind them. The stars were wonderful too; Southern Island being an island doesn't have many ground lights to pollute the sky so when it's clear it's always wonderful. I'd been beneath that sky for seven months and yet it still pulled me in, even through my shivering.

I was pulled from the skyline by the feeling of a body leaning against mine and arm wrapped around me, my eyes met with a set of glowing amber ones. Blaze's hair was down, a sight I'd grown more accustomed to but I doubt I'll ever get over the change in her height when she lowers it and sheds her heels. She was dressed in a baggy magenta shirt and black pyjama bottoms, heavy tome in her free hand. "So this is comfortable is it?"

Looking back to the sky I could feel warmth ebb into my body from the points of contact; a response had come naturally to me and I didn't want to waste it. I leaned into her and tried to say something at least a little romantic? "It is now." Somehow I didn't even stutter but in the moment I had no idea if that was the right thing to say. The feeling of a warm head leaning against my shoulder told me that, at the very least, it wasn't wrong. My muscles were beginning to loosen, I could feel drowsiness creeping up on me. As the clouds passed obscured the moon I turned back to her; "You know, you keep it really cold in here."

She rolled her eyes and looked away, head leaving my shoulder; in the low light, I could see a blush on her face. "That would be intentional Silver. I did plan for today; sharing warmth with you is the easiest way to share my power with you. Should I heat up further? Is it uncomfortably cold? Perhaps I didn't think this through far enough…"

I flinched a little, the pieces slotted together in my mind; I thought I'd begun to overcome my denseness but evidently not. "N-No, it's fine; you're doing great, I guess I was just too oblivious again. I love snuggling with you I-I just didn't realise you were actively planning it." I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer still and melding into the heat.

Blaze's eyes met mine again; they were far more distracting than the emerging moon. "You bring me light so I'll gift you warmth." The heat was wearing deeper and deeper into me; I turned away from the skyline and rested my chin atop her head, my arms enveloped her and I felt hers gently wrap behind me. One hand was between my shoulder blades, the other closer to my waist. The warmth that fully enveloped me, a pocket defended from the cold of the room, saw to it that sleep was on the horizon. Beneath me I felt her shift, the sounds of a deep breath filled my ears and instinctively I yawned with her, groaning as my eyes squeezed shut. I don't understand why but for the longest time whenever she yawned, whether I could only hear or see it, I'd immediately release one too.

Finishing the yawn, sleepy tears in my eyes, I managed to pull away from the top of her head; the comfort slowly escaping from my chin. "You want to sleep?"

She squeezed closer for a moment before parting, "Yeah, come on." She began to lead me away, with a wave of my hand the window closed and the curtains with them; even in the mere moment we'd spend apart I could feel the cold beginning to reclaim me. Blaze slid beneath the covers but as I went to follow she furrowed her brow, I raised mine. "You're not wearing boots in bed Silver."

Sure enough, they were still on; I'd been far too distracted. I sheepishly bent down and slid them off, my rings hanging in place. I got in next to her, setting my book on her bedside table, and immediately she shifted her head into my chest. With the twist of a hand the covers tucked in around us. The heat began to flow into me again; I felt my smile grow wide as I loosely wrapped my arms around her back, light from my symbols being muffled by the duvet. Blaze returned the gesture, one arm snaking it's way to my scruff while the other held the base of my back. The warmth was good but I wanted more, my legs bundled against hers and I lowered my head to top hers once more.

The warmth was almost smothering, it surrounded me entirely, we shared yawn after yawn bundled together; it was almost worth breaking away to see her fangs but I was much too comfortable in her arms. Feeling myself begin to slip I called out; "Blaze?"

"Silver?" Her tired voice was adorable, a gentle almost mumble made further unrecognisable by her position within my chest fur.

With my tired stupor had come some degree of confidence, the closeness and the warmth only further amplifying it. "I want to keep sleeping like this, can I just stay here with you?"

She hesitated, for a moment I thought she might have drifted off. "Eventually this will be the norm, but for now I think Gardon would have a heart attack. He's worried enough about us being together, let alone sleeping in the same bed; if he knew about this I'm sure he'd be on edge." I felt her head shift a little; she'd turned so her cheek was to my chest rather than her pressing her full face into it, I shifted my chin to sit between her ears. "Let's just enjoy this warmth whenever we can."

"Alright, eventually then. It's a promise." I nuzzled my chin against the top of her head, pressing deeper into both her and the heat. "Goodnight Blaze."

Her purring grew slower, purrs strong enough that I could feel them shaking through her, "It's a promise. Goodnight Silver."

\---

Silver was beaming; eyes closed as he confidently concluded his explanation; "So yeah, she's really good at using her warmth! That was a bigger example but usually, it's just little things, warming up when we're holding hands or hugging, but I think because she doesn't need to make a flame she's much more comfortable doing it in public. I hope she'll learn to show her flames more freely but it's great!"

When his eyes opened he was surprised at Amy's expression, her jaw had dropped and her eyes were eyes sparkling. "Silver… you're not even embarrassed, it was shorter than the last story but you're not even blushing. Why aren't you blushing, what was different this time?"

As if coming back to reality redness spread across his cheeks, "I-I guess I got carried away? I didn't even realise I'd started to tell a story before I'd already finished."

Amy's mouth closed, she tilted her head a little; brows furrowed, Silver could see gears turning in her head but he had no idea to what end. Scraping up the last spoonful of her sundae she spoke; "Alright, that was good enough. You don't need to do another one."

Silver was taken aback a little at that, trying to get a read on the pink hedgehog and completely failing. "What? But I thought I was meant to match Blaze, she told three right?"

"She did, but I'm impressed Silver. You've shouted publically about your love, so casually overcome your embarrassment, this will do. You've not even touched your soup, go on go on." She waved his questioning off, sundae now complete she pushed it toward the centre of the table; head resting in her right hand. Silver, still very confused, did as he was told; raising a spoonful of the soup to his mouth… only to be met with chunky and cold lentil with that awful soup skin on the top. He'd grown used to eating well but, Crisis city days still part of him, he could handle this. Swallowing the bile he began to eat only for Amy to begin talking again, "You know, I'm sure you'll get that kiss in the rain soon. You two can only go for so long before getting caught in it again, right?"

"Well…" At that, he turned a little pink, the story he'd thought of before entered his mind… but Amy had said she was fine with two stories. There was no pressure on him, feeling in control he took a deep breath. "I could tell you about that."

Amy's next action was incredibly bizarre to Silver, he heard the sound of crunching; her hands were digging into the table and shards of wood breaking away, but her face was kept in a gentle smile; eyes closed. "Just share what you want to share Silver, there's no pressure to tell a story or anything." She had to half shout to be heard over the rapidly splintering table.

A little distracted by Amy's show of force he waved his hand, psychokinetically lifting objects from the table lest it turn to dust beneath her. His mind wandering, not entirely focused, he began. "Well, it didn't exactly happen normally."

\---

A week had passed since Blaze had told her stories, she was supposed to be guarding the Sol Emeralds directly today but in the twilight hours of the morning she'd come to Marine's hut and awakened me. The tide was rapidly receding, the sky above mired by thick clouds; pink and purple colouration streaking out from the horizon and colouring the grey sky. We'd been walking for a while now, the ramshackle house far in the distance, conversation had been scant and I could tell she was anxious. She wasn't looking at me, rather everywhere else; most often to her feet, occasionally to the sky and rarely to the sea to her immediate right. Her posture was normal but there was a small frown on her face, a pout almost.

Finally taking initiative I took her hand, fingers slipping between her digits and thumb sliding beneath hers. I felt warmth begin to radiate from her but she still wasn't looking me in the eye, I took another step closer to her. "Blaze what's wrong? Are you alright?"

She'd stopped walking and sighed a little, finally our eyes met; her ears were pinned forward and there was scarlet coloured her cheeks. "It's fine I'm just… waiting for something to happen. I was sure it would have started by now, there's something I want to do and it's just... it's taking a lot of focus. Soon people might show up and I'm sure I'll be too terrified to do it, as much as I want to."

"You're waiting for something? But what-

She turned to me and shifted our grip, her fingers now running up the length of my palm and mine up hers. She grasped my other hand in hers; eyes fixed to my boots, she took a moment to think over her words, warmth continued to spill over. "It's a surprise, please let's just wait a little longer and see if it happens. If it doesn't we can do it another time but… I wanted to do this as soon as possible. I don't know when the next opportunity will strike."

I felt myself blush, I had no idea what this could be but if she was struggling so much to do it then it was important to her and thus incredibly important to me. I brought my thumbs up and gently rubbed her hand, "I'll wait as long a-as we need to, don't worry." She was waiting for something, but she also wanted to do something? I didn't want to think about it too hard, it was supposed to be a surprise after all, but curiosity was eating away at me. Her eyes were still locked to the ground, the seconds were trickling by so much slower than they had been; with every second I could see the weight growing on her, glowing redder and redder. I looked to the beach around us for some indicator of what she was looking for, something to relieve her pressure, when it dawned on me. Was that something she was waiting for an action from me? Was I supposed to do something? But what…

My eyes were cast down to her shoes to now, sight obscured by our linked hands. All I could think was that she wanted me to kiss her; it couldn't be anything more than that could it? What more was there to do? Was there anything else I could possibly do? Was there some kind of position I was supposed to hold her in? Had I forgotten something so vital? Her feet were shuffling, was she trembling? I raised my head; she wasn't looking to my feet; rather to the ground on her right. I leaned in, moving my right hand to her shoulder; her eyes met with mine for a moment but she turned away. "No Silver, not yet, I'm still waiting for…" I pulled back, a little glum but at least she'd said not yet. I felt her left fist clench around my hand, heating up, a thought seemed to strike her as her eyes shot back to me. "Turn around and close your eyes."

"Wh-What?" There was seriousness in her eyes, cutting through the embarrassment spread across the rest of her face. I hesitated for a moment but eventually dropped her hand, whatever this was I trusted her completely and she clearly wanted to do it quite badly. "Alright, I promise." I turned away from the sea, eyes shut, and immediately I heard Blaze walking away… but not further up the beach, she was walking toward the sea. Soon the crashing of waves hid her footsteps, I have no idea how long I stood waiting there; surrounded by the scent and sound of the sea, a light wind blowing my quills. Eventually though something made me flinch, another of my senses had been touched… a drop of rain had flicked my nose. My eyes cracked open as more droplets began to fall but quickly closed my eyes again remembering the promise. Raising my hands a barrier formed overhead, protecting me from the pelting droplets. The rain was tumbling faster and faster, the sound of rain overcame the waves; quickly going from a light drizzle to a downpour.

That was when I heard her shout; "Silver, don't turn around yet, drop the barrier!" I didn't hesitate; dropping my arms rainwater began to rush over me. My quills cascaded down to top my eyelids and fur was quickly soaking. Soon there wasn't a dry patch on me; I felt cold begin to set in only for a warm hand to grasp my shoulder. Quite suddenly I was turned on my heel; my eyes opened wide just in time for a pair of lips to collide with mine. I couldn't see her for my fallen quills, I couldn't even tell if her eyes were open, but I could feel her, she was warm as always but this warmth was subdued; she wasn't evaporating water as she usually would! Her hands shifted, one chased around my side and up my back while the other reached from my shoulder; both met with my drooping back quills and pulled me; shifting my stunned position, my head was turned and with that turn our kiss was deepened. It was happening! Just as I'd researched, just as I failed to do, a kiss in the rain!

I fumbled to react, wrapping my right arm across the top of her back while the left her waist, but between her tugging and blindness, it was clear she was in control. This was different from our prior kisses; for Blaze to lead wasn't uncommon but as her hands ran through my quills and her body pulled closer I could tell this was going to be something else. This was new, but I loved it. But the moment I became certain of that I felt her tug on the end of my quills, my lips were snatched from hers; my eyes opened wide, I went to speak, and that's when it happened. With a tug on our lips met in a formation I was unfamiliar with, I went to close my mouth only to realise hers was slightly open too. She tugged my left quill, pulling my head down and tilting my mouth further into hers; to aid the movement my knees bent, my head was beneath hers. Surprise initially overtook me as something pushed passed my lips and then I remembered it, I'd seen this before; in those movies tongues would enter other people's mouths but I never could understand why until it finally happened. My hands shifted to her shoulder blades, trying to pull her in closer even though no space remained between us.

To describe the movements within my mouth is difficult, both due to the surprise as well as the rain overwhelming my senses, but I know for certain she led; her tongue taping mine before pulling back, I awkwardly raised mine to approach but Blaze was very much in control of this, both internally and externally, and frankly I had no problem with that. One of her hands released my back quills only to trace up to the ones obscuring my vision, my eye opened as she cleared my view but her eyes were closed tight; fur drooping down, uninhibited in the rain. I'd overcome the surprise but between her hands pulling through my quills, the sea salt smell and the drumming of rain across our bodies I was finding it hard to focus on one thing so I closed my eyes and just kept leaning in… until our teeth kind of bashed then I decided to just let keep control of this. I didn't care to time how much longer it lasted, her tongue exploring while I tried my best to contend with it, all I know is we stopped as the rain did; eyes wide and panting.

Our bodies were still close; she began to heat up; slowly drying our bodies. "This is what you wanted to do those months ago, right? I-I didn't know about kissing in the rain but Amy mentioned it and I wanted to make up for what we missed."

Only one of my eyes was really exposed, I was still panting; "Y-Yeah! Th-Tha… eheh… ehh… th-thank you!" I might have fallen were she not holding me by my quills. I was certainly making a lot of noises but not a lot of words were coming out.

She shifted and pushed my five front quills back; "Y-You're welcome. Th-Thank you for being a part of it, I-I'm sorry it took so long; I was sure it would rain today but when it didn't I had to boil the water myself. F-Force a reaction to make it rain."

The quills kept slicking back to flop over my eyes; I shifted my arms from her shoulder blades to around her waist. "I-I-I d-didn't expect a-all of it but...y-yeah I wanted to kiss you in the rain that day. I-I'm sorry I couldn't but I-I never w-would have done that well." I was such a stuttering idiot, she'd done something so cool with her powers and taken such initiative and here I was struggling to get words out. I steeled myself, crushing my hand behind her back; "C-Can we do it a-again?"

\---

Silver had been far too caught up in his explanation, the fact he was meant to be having lunch with Amy had become totally secondary. His eyes had been closed through most of his unintentional storytelling; too caught up in remembering the moment… when he heard a loud bang though reality quickly returned. He opened his eyes only to find Amy wasn't there anymore… and neither was the table. Looking to the floor he found the pink hedgehog in what could only be described as a state of shock, the table had fallen with her and split into chunks. Was she laughing? It sounded like she was laughing. Silver had no idea what to do so he looked to their surroundings… everyone besides the wait staff had vanished while they were hiding behind the counter. Quite suddenly Silver understood his actions, he took his head in his hands; redness overcame him.

From the floor Amy managed to sound between breaths; "You can stop now Silver! That's enough, even for me!"


End file.
